# Collaborative to understand impacts of early preventive interventions on suicide and overdose mortality using data harmonization methodology

> **NIH NIH U01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $2,834,044

## Abstract

Project Summary
The goal of this application, submitted in response to RFA-MH-23-275, “Using Secondary Data Analysis to
Determine Whether Preventive Interventions Implemented Earlier in Life Reduce Suicide Risk,” is to conduct
research that will integrate and harmonize existing large prevention trial datasets. The included randomized
clinical trials (RCT) were delivered before adulthood (prior to age 18) and did not explicitly target suicidal
thoughts and behaviors (STB). Each RCT consists of well-characterized participant-level prospective data with
consent that allows for the harmonized data to be submitted to the NIMH Data Archive and allows for National
Death Index searches. This study will examine ‘cross-over effects’ (e.g., unanticipated beneficial effects) of the
RCTs in reducing risk for later fatal and nonfatal STB, and related outcomes such as overdose, Substance Use
Disorders (SUD), Opioid Use Disorders (OUD), accidents, and all-cause mortality. This U01 proposal has
obtained 29 existing prevention trial data sets with collaboration of the principal investigators and data
custodians who have rights to the original data. We will de-identify, aggregate, and harmonize the prevention
trial datasets and utilize advanced computational/analytic strategies to examine whether intervening early
reduces the risk for STB and related outcomes. We will identify the most potent aspects by examining the
various components of each intervention as well as the proximal and distal targets, format, setting,
dose/duration, developmental timing, and quality of implementation. Potential mediators and mechanisms of
action (e.g., aspects of parenting, social factors, emotional and behavioral regulation) will also be studied and
identified. This effort will examine moderators of the effects of preventive interventions, including specific
subpopulations (e.g., individuals from historically minoritized and socioeconomically disadvantaged
backgrounds), and those individuals experiencing initial elevated levels of risk (e.g., systems-involved youth,
youth who had experienced early trauma/adverse childhood events). Data will be utilized from 29 trials
involving 14 programs and 42,509 individuals. With over 40,000 participants across all studies, harmonizing
data will allow for more complex, multifactorial, multi-level analyses to explore intervention impacts on fatal and
nonfatal STB and related outcomes as well as potential mediators, mechanisms, and moderators of impact.
The U01 team will oversee the preparation of a final harmonized prevention trial dataset to be deposited to
the NIMH Data Archive (NDA) with data dictionaries and associated documentation from the original studies.
This project has the potential to inform the refinement and development of future preventive intervention
strategies delivered early and scaled to address suicide and overdose in the US.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10947287
- **Project number:** 1U01MH137067-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Arin M Connell
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $2,834,044
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-09 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10947287

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10947287, Collaborative to understand impacts of early preventive interventions on suicide and overdose mortality using data harmonization methodology (1U01MH137067-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-13 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10947287. Licensed CC0.

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